Future large-scale sensor networks may comprise thousands of wirelessly connected sensor nodes that could provide an unimaginable opportunity to interact with physical phenomena in real time. However, the nodes are typically highly resource-constrained. Since the communication task is a significant power consumer, various attempts have been made to introduce energy-awareness at different levels within the communication stack. Clustering is one such attempt to control energy dissipation for sensor data dissemination in a multihop fashion. The Time-Controlled Clustering Algorithm (TCCA) is proposed to realize a network-wide energy reduction. A realistic energy dissipation model is derived probabilistically to quantify the sensor network's energy consumption using the proposed clustering algorithm. A discrete-event simulator is developed to verify the mathematical model and to further investigate TCCA in other scenarios. The simulator is also extended to include the rest of the communication stack to allow a comprehensive evaluation of the proposed algorithm.